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Risk paying off as business booming

MultiCam Western Canada president Sean Lawlor with some of the products their equipment is able to custom cut.The local business, located in the Gloucester Industrial Estates, had a grand opening last week at its new building.

— image credit: Kurt Langmann/Black Press

Like most business owners, Sean Lawlor was scared when the market crashed a few years ago, sending the economy on a downward spiral.

“I thought about selling my company but then realized how we were doing prior to the crash and how many companies were looking to purchase CNC machines,” he explained.

“I decided to take a very big risk and sold off all my assets and expanded my business in the worst times of the economy.”

But Lawlor kept the faith and poured even more resources into his business, Multicam Western Canada.

The business is a machine distributor service centre for a Dallas company.

Multicam Western Canada provides a wide selection of cutting tools which are used in various manufacturing areas. They offer CNC plasma machines, routers, lasers, water jets and knife cutters.

Lawlor has been with Multicam for 13 years and opened up a Western Canadian branch in 2004.

He poured $2.5 million back into the business.

“We invested everything into a major expansion because we knew we would get through these rough times,” he said. “It was a massive investment on my part, but I also realized the potential.”

“(And) we grew our business by almost 40 per cent last year and we are on target to double our business for 2011.”

The new location, which is in the Gloucester Industrial Estates (101A 4848 275 St.) held its grand opening last week.

The inside of the building was re-designed by Dan Sawatzky, who is known around the world for his designs and creations, and shows just what the CNC machines are capable of producing.

“We have tried to create a ‘wow’ factor,” Lawlor said.

“As customers come through, they can see what our various machines can cut. Instead of just the basic two-dimensional part they need to cut, this gives them an idea of what are machines are capable of doing.”

Much like a car dealer has a showroom, Lawlor strived to do the same. One of his favourite elements is the board room/training centre which is designed to look like the inside of a submarine.

The building is up for several design awards.

Lawlor says he sees the economy turning around, especially with large companies starting to spend more capital. And he hopes that other businesses going through time times heed his advice and stay strong.

“It is a great indicator that the economy is definitely turning around,” he said. “It starts with the big guys and it trickles down to the medium and smaller companies.

“We see it first, the market, the whole company is definitely changing for the good.”

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